After a botched surgery, I lived with it for a long time, but I finally had it removed.... I had not visited this community much recently, but I remembered spending so long here and came back. I thought many desperate people might find this helpful, so I’m writing.
I had surgery with autologous costal cartilage plus a septal extension, and they made my nose extremely high with 7 mm of silicone. Leaving aside the design problems, my nasal airway narrowed, making breathing difficult, and the foreign-body sensation and discomfort were severe. I had the septal extension removed and used ear cartilage as a flexible columellar support. The silicone remains, so technically this is revision surgery, but I’m writing about the removal because it may help people here.
I had the nasal packing removed today. From the moment it came out, I could breathe so well. Even when inhaling deeply, my nose no longer stuck together, and air came in smoothly and abundantly.... The heavy, pulling sensation when turning left and right has disappeared too. The foreign-body sensation I felt in my nose vanished immediately after surgery.
They showed me the removed autologous rib cartilage, and it was really about the same length as the silicone. The surgeon said it must have been very difficult... It had even been fixed very deep, so removal was challenging. I cannot say with 100% certainty that everything went well yet because the splint is still on, but my nose has already become much lower and more natural, and breathing is better, so I feel incredibly relieved.
Some places recommended spreader grafting or alar cartilage reconstruction, but I trusted the advice that simply removing the rib cartilage and lowering the nose would improve things. I’m glad I chose not to have further manipulation done.... I’ll come back with another review after the splint is removed.... I’m posting this hoping it can give hope to people struggling to breathe. Stay strong, everyone, and good luck with your surgeries...!!!!!